Available for pre-order now ahead of a 17 July launch date, the Nothing Phone 4b sits between the brand’s Phone 4a and the CMF Phone 2 Pro in terms of price, specs and overall ambitions.
The front of the new device features a 6.77-inch AMOLED screen with a 120Hz refresh rate, 2000 nits of peak brightness and a 16MP selfie camera. Then, the back features a 50MP main camera sensor, paired up with a secondary 50MP ultra-wide lens and a unique version of the Glyph Bar found on other Nothing handsets.
As per usual, the design is the drawcard here. Where the Phone 4a stuck to the transparent tradition of earlier Nothing devices, the Phone 4b opts for a unibody design akin to the one introduced by the more premium Nothing Phone 4a Pro.
On the inside, the device is powered by a Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 processor, 8GB of RAM, 128GB of on-board storage, a 5200mAh battery and the latest version of Nothing OS and Android 16. In terms of post-launch support, Nothing has committed to 3 years of major OS upgrades and 6 years of software updates.
The Phone 4b doesn't come with as many premium perks as its Pro-grade counterpart, but it does come with 33W fast-charging, dual stereo speakers, IP64 water and dust resistance.
Given how successful Nothing has been when it comes to budget-friendly smartphones under its CMF Brand, it’ll be interesting to see if the Phone 4b can live up to that legacy while carving a lane of its own.
However, given the asking price, that may be a tall order. In Australia, the Nothing Phone 4b is set to launch at a recommended retail price of $629 – which is just $20 below the Phone 4a.
The new Nothing Ear 3a face a similar problem. In form and function, the earbuds are just as much a follow-up to 2024’s Ear a as they are to last year’s Ear 3.
What you see is very much what you get here, though. These earbuds are draped in bright colours, but they aren’t all that radical a revision of the formula that anyone who has used a set of AirPods hasn’t seen before.
The Nothing Ear 3a are powered by a set of 12mm custom drivers, and come in four different colours. The true wireless earbuds are IP54-rated against water and dust damage, and support real-time adaptive ANC thanks to a trio of high definition microphones.
As with other Nothing audio products, the Ear 3a can be used straight out of the box but are designed to integrate with the Nothing X app. This can be used to tinker with the sound profile and equaliser settings, toggle things like noise-cancelling and tweak the control scheme as you like.
When it comes to codecs, the Ear 3a supports LDAC, Hi-Res and Spatial Audio. In addition to the above audiophile-adjacent inclusions, Nothing’s new earbuds also come with a number of AI audio features. You can pinch to record your surroundings, phone calls or audio you’re listening to.
The earbuds themselves have a whopping 32MB of storage to hold those recordings, though they can also be synced to your phone via the Nothing X app once that allowance is exhausted.
In Australia, the Nothing Ear 3a earbuds will launch at a recommended retail price of $179.
While that sum does put them well short of the $299 RRP attached to last year’s Nothing Ear 3, you don’t have to look too far to find the latter available at a depreciated price nowadays – which may make it a harder sell to anyone who isn’t all-in on the AI audio features found here.
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